Managing multi-user access to controlled locations in a facility

ABSTRACT

A method or system for multi-user access of a facility including multiple controlled locations is disclosed. In one step, an image of a person is obtained from a data store. An image capture device is correlated to a controlled location. An image is received for the controlled location. One or more sub-images of the image are determined. At least one of the sub-images is compared with the image of the person. Information is retrieved for the person and a control rule is retrieved for the controlled location. The system determines whether the person is allowed to access the controlled location. Depending on the determination, the system then sends a signal indicating access availability to the controlled location for the person.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.14/703,291, filed May 4, 2015, the entire disclosure of which isincorporated by reference herein.

BACKGROUND

This disclosure relates in general to managing multi-user access, butnot by way of limitation, to systems and methods that are used to managemulti-user access in a facility using image capture devices.

In the United States, it is estimated that 765,000 people nationwidelive in assisted living facilities. Many of the elderly living inassisted living still have mobility and require minimal supervision,while some suffer from dementia, Alzheimer's, and other mind-alteringdisorders or require heightened care. Monitoring a patient's whereaboutsmay be difficult as some patients may forget to wear, or prefer not towear, tracking devices. Additionally, such facilities often have manyvisitors. These visitors may inadvertently allow an elderly person toaccess areas that he or she should be restricted from accessing.

Incarceration facilities face similar monitoring drawbacks. There areseveral million people residing in U.S. state and federal prisons.Inmates are monitored closely, but monitoring an inmate's whereaboutsmay be difficult as inmates may attempt to tamper with tracking devices.Improving the ability to track these inmates, as well as manager accessto portions of the facility, may result in fewer staffing needs for thefacility.

Current techniques are lacking with respect to monitoring multi-useraccess in a facility. For example, a guard may have to identify a personbefore allowing the person to enter or leave a portion of a facility.These types of procedures invite higher staffing and managerial costsfor the facility manager resulting in higher costs for the elderly inassisted living. Likewise, taxpayers bear higher costs related tostaffing and managerial costs for our incarceration facilities.

SUMMARY

In an example embodiment, the present disclosure provides systems andmethods for multi-user access in a facility. In an example environment,the present disclosure provides a system for managing user-access of afacility, where the facility includes a number of controlled locations.A “controlled location,” as used herein, is intended to refer to anarea, an access point, a door, a window, an elevator, or any suitablelocation for which access may be restricted. The multi-user accesssystem comprises a data store, wherein the data store comprises a firstimage of a first person and a second image of a second person. Themulti-user access system further comprises an image capture deviceswherein the image capture devices corresponds to a controlled locationand the image capture devices transmits an image for the controlledlocation of the facility, wherein the image records a plurality ofpeople. The multi-user access system further comprises an image processengine that determines a plurality of sub-images corresponding to theplurality of people in the image, wherein the plurality of sub-imagesincludes a first sub-image and a second sub-image, The image processorengine further compares the first sub-image to the first image of thefirst person and compares the second sub-image to the second image ofthe second person. The image processor engine further determines, usinga machine image processing algorithm, that the first sub-image matchesthe first image of the first person. The image processor engine furtherdetermines, using the machine image processing algorithm, that thesecond sub-image matches the second image of the second person. Themulti-user access system further comprises a user-access engine thatretrieves first information for the first person and retrieves secondinformation for the second person. The user-access engine furtherretrieves a control rule for the controlled location. The user-accessengine further determines whether the first and second persons areallowed to access the controlled location, wherein the determining is afunction of the first information, the second information, and thecontrol rule. The user-access engine further sends a signal indicatingaccess availability to the controlled location for the first and secondpersons.

In another example environment, the present disclosure provides acomputer-implemented method for managing user-access of a facility,where the facility includes a number of controlled locations. The methodmay include obtaining a two-dimensional image of a person from a datastore. The method may further include correlating an image capturedevice with a controlled location. The method may further includereceiving, from an image capture device, an image for the controlledlocation of the facility, the image recording one or more people. Themethod may further include determining one or more sub-imagescorresponding to the one or more people in the image. The method mayfurther include comparing at least one of the one or more sub-images tothe two-dimensional image of the person. The method may further includedetermining, using a machine image processing algorithm, that the one ormore people match the two-dimensional image of the person. The methodmay further include retrieving information for the person and retrievinga control rule for the controlled location. The method may furtherinclude determining whether the person is allowed to access thecontrolled location, wherein the determining is a function of theinformation and the control rule. The method may further include sendinga signal indicating access availability to the controlled location forthe person based upon the immediately preceding determining.

In yet another example embodiment, the present disclosure provides acomputer-implemented method for managing multi-user access of afacility, where the facility has a plurality of controlled locationswith a corresponding plurality of image capture devices. The method mayinclude obtaining a first image of a first person from a data store andobtaining a second image of a second person from the data store. Themethod may further include correlating an image capture device with acontrolled location. The method may further include receiving, from theimage capture device, an image for the controlled location of thefacility, the image recording a plurality of people. The method mayfurther include determining a plurality of sub-images corresponding tothe plurality of people in the image, wherein the plurality ofsub-images includes a first sub-image and a second sub-image. The methodmay further include comparing the first sub-image to the first image ofthe first person. The method may further include comparing the secondsub-image to the second image of the second person. The method mayfurther include determining, using a machine image processing algorithm,that the first sub-image matches the first image of the first person.The method may further include determining, using the machine imageprocessing algorithm, that the second sub-image matches the second imageof the second person. The method may further include retrieving firstinformation for the first person. The method may further includeretrieving second information for the second person. The method mayfurther include retrieving a control rule for the controlled location.The method may further include determining whether the first and secondpersons are allowed to access the controlled location, wherein thedetermining is a function of the first information, the secondinformation and the control rule. The method may further include sendinga signal indicating access availability to the controlled location forthe person based upon the immediately preceding determining.

Further areas of applicability of the present disclosure will becomeapparent from the detailed description provided hereinafter. It shouldbe understood that the detailed description and specific examples, whileindicating various embodiments, are intended for purposes ofillustration only and are not intended to necessarily limit the scope ofthe disclosure.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present disclosure is described in conjunction with the appendedfigures:

FIG. 1 depicts an example environment of an embodiment of a multi-useraccess system for managing user access for a facility, in accordancewith at least one embodiment;

FIG. 2 depicts an example wristband monitoring device of the wrist-worndevice, in accordance with at least one embodiment;

FIG. 3 depicts an example faceplate device of the wrist-worn device, inaccordance with at least one embodiment;

FIG. 4 depicts an example system or architecture for managing multi-useraccess for a facility, in accordance with at least one embodiment;

FIG. 5 depicts an example computer architecture 500 for providing auser-access controller, including a plurality of modules that may carryout various embodiments;

FIG. 6 depicts a flow chart of an example method for using theuser-access controller, in accordance with at least one embodiment;

FIG. 7 depicts a schematic illustrating an example method for managingmulti-user access for a facility using the user-access engine 102, inaccordance with at least one embodiment;

FIG. 8 depicts a schematic illustrating another example method formanaging multi-user access for a facility using the user-accesscontroller, in accordance with at least one embodiment;

FIG. 9 depicts a schematic illustrating yet another example method formanaging multi-user access for a facility using the user-accesscontroller, in accordance with still one further embodiment; and

FIG. 10 depicts another example environment of an embodiment of amulti-user access system for managing user access for a facility usingthe user-access controller, in accordance with at least one embodiment.

It should be understood that the drawings are not necessarily to scale.In certain instances, details that are not necessary for anunderstanding of the invention or that render other details difficult toperceive may have been omitted. It should be understood that theinvention is not necessarily limited to the particular embodimentsillustrated herein.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The ensuing description provides preferred exemplary embodiment(s) only,and is not intended to limit the scope, applicability, or configurationof the disclosure. Rather, the ensuing description of the preferredexemplary embodiment(s) will provide those skilled in the art with anenabling description for implementing a preferred exemplary embodiment.It should be understood that various changes could be made in thefunction and arrangement of elements without departing from the spiritand scope as set forth in the appended claims. Specific details aregiven in the following description to provide a thorough understandingof the embodiments. However, it will be understood by one of ordinaryskill in the art that the embodiments may be practiced without thesespecific details.

As described in the background of this disclosure, embodiments of thepresent invention comprise systems and methods for managing multi-useraccess for a facility. Specifically, these methods include the use ofone or more image capture devices placed at, or substantially near, acontrolled location. A “controlled location,” as used herein, isintended to refer to an area, an access point, a door, a window, anelevator, or any suitable location for which access may be restricted.An “image capture device” may include, but is not limited to, a digitalcamera, a video recorder, a still-image camera, or the like.Additionally, or alternatively, one or more Bluetooth beaconing devicesmay be utilized within the facility to manage user access of thefacility. A “Bluetooth beaconing device,” as used herein is meant torefer to a positioning system that utilizes a Bluetooth protocol toenable a smart phone or other device to perform actions (e.g., respondwith locational data of the device) when in relatively close proximityto the Bluetooth beaconing device.

In accordance with at least one embodiment, one or more wrist-worndevices may be utilized within the facility to manage user access of thefacility. For example a wrist-worn device may include a wristbandmonitoring device and a faceplate device. The wrist-worn device may beadaptable as a dual device with either the wristband monitoring deviceor the faceplate device able to be operational while the other device ischarging. The wrist-worn device may include one or many sensors that maybe used to track vital signs and/or locational information of thepatient. As used herein, a “sensor” may comprise at least one of anaccelerometer, a gyroscope, a blood-oxygen sensor, a thermometer, aheart-rate monitor, a blood pressure monitor, a glucose monitor, aglobal positioning system (GPS) device, a pedometer, or an altimeter.The wrist-worn device may operate as a watch. Additionally, thewrist-worn device may be capable of presenting a notification to theuser. A notification may be audible, haptic, graphical, or textual innature. The wrist-worn device may include a wristband monitoring deviceconnected to a faceplate device for caring out the features describedherein. The wristband monitoring device has a number of sensors locatedon the band to measure various vital signs, and visual indicators (e.g.,LED lights) to indicate charging and sensor activation. The faceplatedevice includes a number of sensors, a wireless transmitter, a batterycharger, and a user interface (e.g., a touch screen) for interactingwith the user and remote systems. It should be understood that anyreference herein directed to a “wrist-worn device” or “wrist-worndevice(s)” may alternatively be considered to refer to one or morebody-worn devices, not necessarily worn on the wrist (e.g., on theankle, attached to a belt and worn around the waist, etc.).

Generally speaking, embodiments of the present invention enablemanagement of multi-user access to controlled locations of a facility.Additionally, these embodiments enable managing access as well asongoing tracking of multiple users within controlled locations of thefacility. It should be understood that examples included hereindescribing combined usage of image capture devices, wrist-worn devices,Bluetooth beaconing devices, and/or RFID tags/readers may insteadutilize any suitable combination of the above, including individually.In accordance with at least one embodiment, identifying and/or trackingusers in a facility does not require the user to wear any electronicdevice. It should be understood that, with respect to any or all exampleembodiments included herein, functionality descriptions directed toutilizing image capture device(s), and/or Bluetooth beaconing device(s),and/or wrist-worn device(s), and/or RFID readers may be omitted in oneor more embodiments.

In accordance with at least one embodiment, a user (e.g., visitors,employees, independent contractors, etc.) enters a facility. Upon entry,or at another suitable time, a user may be required by facility staff toregister with the multi-user access system. In some embodiments,registration may include capturing an image of the user. For example, adigital camera at a registration station, communicating with a deviceoperated by the facility, may be utilized to take a front and/or profileimage of the user. Such images may be communicated to a multi-useraccess system (e.g., for storage and/or for further processing).Additional information of the user may be stored, for example, accessauthority information including, but not limited to, a two-dimensionalimage of a user, a user role, a controlled location that the user isallowed to access, a controlled location that the user is restrictedfrom accessing, a person within the facility who is associated with theuser (e.g., a person the user is visiting, a doctor/patientrelationship, etc.), a person that the user may escort to any suitablecontrolled location that the user is allowed to access, a person towhich the user is restricted from having access, or any suitablecombination of the above.

In at least one example, one or more image capture devices are placedwithin one or more controlled locations of a facility (e.g., an assistedliving facility, a hospital, a prison, a school, a shopping center, adoctor's office, a pharmacy, a bank, etc.). An image capture device maybe placed at an access point of a controlled location (e.g., a door, awindow, etc.), within a controlled location (e.g., a room, an outsidegarden, a hallway, a nurse's station, etc.), or substantially near acontrolled location and/or an access point of a controlled location.Users that enter the facility may approach an image capture device. Theimage capture device may capture an image of the user. The image may bereceived by a system responsible for managing multi-user access of thefacility. Upon receipt of the image, the system may analyze the imageusing one or more machine image processing algorithms. As used herein, a“machine image processing algorithm” is intended to include, but is notlimited to, one or more algorithms for analyzing images, the algorithmsinclude operations related to feature extraction, pattern recognition,multi-scale signal analysis, projection, classification, pixilation,linear filtering, principal components analysis, independent componentanalysis, hidden Markov models, anisotropic diffusion, partialdifferential equations, self-organizing maps, neural networks, wavelets,or the like. A machine image processing algorithm may be used todetermine a number of sub-images (e.g., an image of a face, an image ofa badge, an image of an article of clothing, etc.) from the capturedimage of the user.

In accordance with at least one embodiment, the sub-images of the imagemay be compared to stored images of users registered with the system. Ifthe comparison results in a match, access authority information may beretrieved for the user. Such access authority information may indicatethat the user is allowed to access (e.g., pass through) the controlledlocation (e.g., the door). Upon such indication, the system may cause asignal to be sent indicating access availability to the controlledlocation for the user. Such a signal may cause a door/window/gate toopen/close/unlock/lock, enable elevator calling, or the like. In atleast one example, the signal may suppress a notification, reminder,alert, alarm, or the like. The signal may be an electronic signal thatindicates instructions for the controlled location to perform an action.

In accordance with at least one embodiment, multiple people may becaptured in an image. In such cases, one or more sub-images for eachperson may be determined. The identity of each person in the image maybe determined by comparing the one or more sub-images of each person tostored images of registered users. Upon determining the identity of aperson, access authority information may be used to determine whetherthe person is allowed access to the controlled location. In at leastsome examples, if the user is not found in the system, then the personmay be allowed to access all, or some subset of the controlled locationsby default.

In accordance with at least one embodiment, one person's accessauthority may override another person(s) access authority. For example,during registration, or at another suitable time, a doctor may beassociated with one or more of her patients. At some point, the doctormay attempt to escort the patient into an area to which, normally, thepatient does not have access, but to which the doctor does. In thiscase, both the doctor and the patient can be determined from a capturedimage at, for example, the door. While access to the door would normallybe restricted (e.g., locked) for the patient, the presence of thedoctor, along with the association of the doctor to her patient, mayresult in the door being accessible to both the doctor and the patient.

In accordance with at least one embodiment, multiple users in a facilitymay be tracked by the system. For example, one or more image capturedevices may capture various images of a person in the facility, atvarious times. A number of sub-images may be determined from the variousimages. As a non-limiting illustrative example, an image may indicate auser (e.g., a nurse) is at a nurse's station within the facility. Atsubstantially the same time, an image may indicate, falsely, that thesame nurse is at a door to a controlled location. In such examples, orat any suitable time, confidence scores may be calculated based on themachine image processing algorithm, where a confidence score indicates adegree of likelihood that the person in the sub-image is a particularperson. A comparison of the confidence scores may result in the personat the controlled location being denied access (e.g., when theconfidence score of the image depicting the nurse at the desk is higherthan the confidence score of the image depicting the nurse at thecontrolled location). Additionally, or alternatively, a notificationand/or an alarm may be triggered based on the determination that thesame person is at two different locations in the facility atsubstantially the same time.

In accordance with at least one embodiment, a person may be trackedthrough the facility by the system. For example, one or more imagecapture devices may capture various images of a person in the facility,at various times. A number of sub-images may be determined from thevarious images. As a non-limiting illustrative example, an image mayindicate a user (e.g., a nurse) is at a nurse's station within thefacility. At another time, (e.g., seconds later) another image mayindicate that the nurse is moving toward a hallway of the facility. Inthis example, the hallway may not have any image capture devices nearby,thus, the nurse's progress down the hallway is unattainable throughimage captures. In such cases, the system may calculate a potentiallocation of the nurse based on, for example, a calculated speed at whichthe nurse appears to be moving, a calculated heading to which the nurseappears to be headed, an electronic floor plan of the facility, or thelike. In some cases, the system may monitor for the user to be reappearat another controlled location of the facility within a time period. Ifthe user does not reappear with the time period, a notification and/oralarm may be triggered. In at least some examples, a Bluetooth beaconingdevice and/or a wrist-worn device as described above may be utilizedindependently from, or in conjunction with, image capture devices. Forexample, Bluetooth beaconing devices and/or wrist-worn devices mayenable the system to ascertain location information of a user. Suchlocation information may be utilize to identify one or more persons inan image (e.g., if the person is otherwise unidentifiable) and/or may bestored for later use.

Referring now to the drawings, in which like reference numeralsrepresent like parts, FIG. 1 depicts an example environment 100 of anembodiment of a user-access controller 102 for managing user access fora facility, in accordance with at least one embodiment. In at least oneembodiment, the user-access controller 102 is a component of the asystem for managing multi-user access in a facility. The facilitydevice(s) 104 may communicate with user-access controller 102 vianetwork(s) 106. In some examples, the network(s) 106 include any one ora combination of many different types of networks, such as cablenetworks, the Internet, wireless networks, cellular networks and otherprivate and/or public networks. The facility device(s) 104 may beresponsible for displaying electronic representations of the facilityand/or electronic representations of one or more users inside/outsidethe facility. For example, a security guard may utilize the facilitydevice(s) 104 to view one or more persons within the facility.

In accordance with at least one embodiment, image capture device(s) 108may communicate via a wireless and/or wired connection with user-accesscontroller 102 to provide images of the facility via the network(s) 106.These images may be analyzed by user-access controller 102 to determineone or more actual and/or potential locations of user 110. Upondetermining a user's identify, user-access controller 102 may send asignal to controlled location 112 that enables the one or more user(s)110 to access the controlled location. Alternatively, the one or moreuser(s) 110 may utilize an access interface(s) 114 (e.g., a keypad, aradio frequency identification (RFID) reader, a graphical interfacepresented on a wrist-worn device, etc.) to override the determination ofaccess of user-access controller 102. For example, user-accesscontroller 102 may determine that a particular user is not allowed toaccess the controlled location 112. Using the access interface(s) 114,the particular user may enter an override (e.g., by typing in a code,presenting an RFID tag, etc.) in order to gain access to the controlledlocation 112.

In at least one embodiments wrist-worn device(s) 120 and/or Bluetoothbeacon device(s) 118 may be utilized in conjunction with the imagecapture device(s) to track the one or more user(s) 110 of the facility.The wrist-worn device(s) 120 may include a wristband monitoring device122 and a faceplate device 124. The wrist-worn device(s) 120 mayexchange cellular network control, timing and status information with acellular network access point so as to maintain communicationcapabilities in the cellular network. Cellular network access points mayprovide access to the internet or other data networks. The wrist-worndevice(s) 120 may establish an internet connection by detecting acellular access point, performing joining procedures, and regularlyexchanging status, control and routing information with the accesspoint. The wrist-worn device(s) 120 may use the internet connection toaccess weather data, GPS data, or to communicate with other devicesdescribed herein.

FIG. 2 depicts an example of the wristband monitoring device 122 of thewrist-worn device(s) 120, in accordance with at least one embodiment. Itshould be noted that FIG. 2 is meant only to provide a generalizedillustration of various components, any or all of which may be utilizedas appropriate. In some embodiments, some or all of the componentsincluded in the wristband monitoring device 122 may also or instead belocated on the faceplate device 124. Moreover, system elements may beimplemented in a relatively separated or relatively more integratedmanner.

The wristband monitoring device 122 is shown comprising hardwareelements that can be electrically coupled via a bus 202 (or mayotherwise be in communication, as appropriate). The hardware elementsmay include a processing unit(s) 203 which can include withoutlimitation one or more general-purpose processors, one or morespecial-purpose processors (such as digital signal processors (DSPs),application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), and/or the like),and/or other processing structure or means, which can be configured toperform one or more of the methods described herein.

The wristband monitoring device 122 might also include a wirelesscommunication interface 204, which can include without limitation amodem, a network card, an infrared communication device, a wirelesscommunication device, and/or a chipset (such as a Bluetooth device, anIEEE 802.11 device, an IEEE 802.15.4 device, a Wi-Fi device, a WiMaxdevice, cellular communication facilities, etc.), and/or the like. Thewireless communication interface 204 may permit data to be exchangedwith a network, wireless access points, other computer systems, and/orany other electronic devices described herein. The communication can becarried out via one or more wireless communication antenna(s) 206 thatsend and/or receive wireless signals 208. In at least one embodiment,wristband monitoring device 122 may communicate with faceplate device124 via the wireless communication interface 204.

Depending on desired functionality, the wireless communication interface204 can include separate transceivers to communicate with basetransceiver stations (e.g., base transceiver stations of a cellularnetwork) and access points. These different data networks can include,an Orthogonal Frequency-Division Multiple Access (OFDMA), CodeDivisional Multiple Access (CDMA), Global System for MobileCommunications (GSM)), and/or other types of networks.

The wristband monitoring device 122 can further include sensor(s) 210.Such sensors can include, without limitation, one or moreaccelerometer(s) and/or gyroscope(s) 212, altimeter(s) 214, blood-oxygenlevel sensor(s) 216, heart rate monitor(s) 218, blood pressuremonitor(s) 220, glucose monitor(s) 222, pedometer(s) 224, GPS(s) 226,thermometer(s) 228, and the like. At least a subset of the sensor(s) 220can provide readings used to provide wellness monitoring as describedherein.

Embodiments of wristband monitoring device 122 may also include aSatellite Positioning System (SPS) receiver 230 capable of receivingsignals 232 from one or more SPS satellites using an SPS antenna 234.Such positioning can be utilized to complement and/or incorporate thetechniques described herein. The SPS receiver can receive satellite datathat can be transmitted to the GPS sensor 226. The satellite data can beinformation sufficient to allow the GPS sensor 226 to determine ageographic location of the wristband monitoring device based on thesatellite data. It can be noted that, as used herein, an SPS may includeany combination of one or more global and/or regional navigationsatellite systems and/or augmentation systems, and SPS signals mayinclude SPS, SPS-like, and/or other signals associated with such one ormore SPS.

Embodiments of wristband monitoring device 122 may also include anidentification device 238. Identification device 238 may include adevice that utilizes radio-frequencies in communication (e.g., aradio-frequency identification (RFID) device). A RFID device is a devicethat uses electromagnetic fields to transfer data for the purposes ofautomatically identifying and tracking tags attached to objects, thetags containing electronically stored information. Other identificationdevices may be utilized, including, but not limited to devices utilizingnear field communication (NFC). NFC is a set of standards used bysmartphone and similar devices to establish radio communication witheach other by touching them together or bring them into proximity of oneanother.

The wristband monitoring device 122 may further include, or be incommunication with, a memory 240. The memory 240 is an example of acomputer-readable storage media. In at least one example,computer-readable storage media include volatile or non-volatile,removable or non-removable, media implemented in any method ortechnology for storage of information such as computer-readableinstructions, data structures, program modules, or other data.Additional types of computer storage media that may be included in thewristband monitoring device 122 may include, but are not limited to,PRAM, SRAM, DRAM, RAM, ROM, EEPROM, flash memory or other memorytechnology, CD-ROM, DVD or other optical storage, magnetic cassettes,magnetic tape, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices,or any other medium which can be used to store the desired informationand which can be accessed by the wristband monitoring device 122.Combinations of any of the above should also be included within thescope of computer-readable media. Memory 240 can further be used tostore sensor data for any combination of sensors 210 in data store 242.Additionally, or alternatively the memory 240 may be used to storemedical-related data for the user.

Turning to the contents of the memory 240 in more detail, the memory240, in at least one embodiment, includes an operating system 244 andone or more application programs, modules, or services for implementingthe features disclosed herein including at least the perceived latency,such as via the wristband monitoring device 122 or dedicatedapplications. In at least one example embodiment, the wristbandmonitoring device 122 is configured to receive, store, and/or displaycontent and at least one interface for interacting with the serviceprovider computer(s) 402 and/or user. Additionally, the memory 240stores access credentials and/or other user information such as, but notlimited to, user IDs, passwords, and/or other user information. In someexamples, the user information includes information for authenticatingan account access request such as, but not limited to, a device ID, acookie, an IP address, a location, or the like. Additionally, the userinformation may include medical-related data associated with the user.

As used herein, medical-related data can include, for example, healthinformation that is created or received by a health care provider, aprocessed or unprocessed version of medical data detected by medicalequipment, and/or user-identified data. Medical-related data can includeinformation that identifies a patient, such as personal informationand/or demographic information. For example, the information canidentify a patient's name, age, sex, race, physical address, phonenumber, email address and/or social security number. Medical-relateddata may include information collected by a health plan, a public healthauthority, an employer, a life insurer, a school or university, or ahealth care clearinghouse that relates to the past, present, or futurephysical or mental health or condition of any individual.

Medical-related data can include financial and/or insurance informationcorresponding to the patient. For example, the information can identifyan insurance company, insurance plan, member identification number,group number, insurance contact information (e.g., address and/or phonenumber), deductible information, out-of-pocket information, copayinformation, an employer, an occupation and/or salary information.

Medical-related data can include medical-history information, such aspast diagnoses, past or present symptoms or past procedures and/orcorresponding dates (e.g., of diagnoses, symptom initiations and/orprocedures). Medical-related data can identify past or presentmedications being taken by or having been prescribed to the patient andcorresponding dates. In some examples, the medical-related data canidentify orders pharmacology orders, whether associated with a patient,doctor, or otherwise.

Medical-related data can include an identification of one or moremedical services being or having been requested by a patient. A medicalservice can include, for example, an evaluation performed by a medicalcare professional, a medical test, a surgery and/or other procedure.Medical-related data can identify a medical test or analysis that wasperformed or prescribed and/or a result of the test or analysis. Forexample, information can indicate that a test (e.g., lab test, Mill,x-ray, CT scan, echocardiography, EKG, EEG, EMG, or ultrasound) wasperformed on a particular date and/or by a particular entity and canfurther include a processed and/or unprocessed result of the test (e.g.,a count or level; an indication as to whether a test result is normal;and/or an indication as to whether a particular feature (e.g., afracture, tumor, lesion, slowed nerve conduction) was observed and/or amagnitude of the feature).

Medical-related data can identify one or more care providers orinstitutions. The care provider and/or institution can be one associatedwith recent or past care and/or with the patient. For example, data canbe transmitted for a patient admitted in Hospital A and being treated bySpecialist B, though the data can also identify that the patient'sprimary care physician is Doctor C.

Medical-related data can identify one or more emergency contacts orfamily members and contact data for the individuals. For example,medical-related data can identify that the patient's emergency contactis an adult child that may be contacted at a provided phone number.

Medical-related data can identify a patient healthcare directive. Forexample, medical-related data can identify if the patient has a livingwill, a do not resuscitate order (DNR), or if another individual has theright to make medical decisions relating to the patient's medical care.

Medical-related data may further include one or more authorized viewers.Authorized viewers are those that the user has agreed to allow access tohis medical-related data. For example, a user may authorize a doctor, anindividual having rights to make medical decision related to thepatient's medical care, a medical institution, and the like to accesshis medical-related data. The user may indicate that the authorizationis contingent on certain events transpiring (e.g., an emergencysituation).

Medical-related data may, or may not, selectively pertain to aparticular patient. For example, non-patient-specific data may include aprice of a prescription, a recommended or approved dosing schedule for amedication, a work schedule for a physician, an acceptance criteria fora clinical study, Non-patient-specific data can include informationpertaining to the operation of a medical care facility, financialinformation, administrative information, and generic clinicalinformation.

Medical-related data can, depending on the implementation, includeindividually identifiable health information and/or de-identifiedinformation. Individually identifiable health information includes, forexample, health information, including demographic information collectedfrom an individual that is created or received by a health careprovider, health plan, employer, or health care clearinghouse; and thatrelates to the past, present, or future physical or mental health orcondition of an individual, the provision of health care to anindividual, or the past, present, or future payment for the provision ofhealth care to an individual; and that identifies the individual; or,with respect to which there is a reasonable basis to believe, can beused to identify the individual. De-identified information includesinformation that cannot be used on its own or with other information toidentify a person to whom the information belongs. De-identifiedinformation can include normal ranges or values associated with varioussensor data based on gender, age, or other classification. De-identifiedinformation can also include medical-related data aggregated from otherwrist-worn device users or non-users related.

As used herein, medical-related data can include protected healthinformation, which can include individually identifiable healthinformation that is transmitted by electronic media, maintained inelectronic media, or transmitted or maintained in any other form ormedium. Examples of protected health information, include, for exampleany information about health status, provision of health care, orpayment that can be linked to a particular patient and may include anyof the following information capable of identifying the patient: names,geographic identifiers, dates directly relating to the patient, phonenumbers, fax numbers, email addresses, social security numbers, medicalrecord numbers, health insurance beneficiary numbers, account numbers,certificate/license numbers, vehicle identifiers and serial numbers,device identifiers and serial numbers, web Uniform Resource Locators,Internet Protocol addresses, biometric identifiers (e.g., finger,retinal, and voice prints), full face photographic images and anycomparable images, and any other unique identifying number,characteristic, or code.

The memory 240 of the wristband monitoring device 122 also can comprisesoftware elements (not shown), device drivers, executable libraries,and/or other code, such as one or more application programs, which maycomprise computer programs provided by various embodiments, and/or maybe designed to implement methods, and/or configure systems, provided byother embodiments, as described herein.

The wristband monitoring device 122 includes an output device 260.Output device 260 may include LED lights, speakers, or other visual oraudible indicators. The output device 260 may be used to indicate when asensor is activated, when a reading is being taken, when the wristbandmonitoring device 122 is being charged, when the wristband monitoringdevice 122 is low on battery, when Bluetooth is being utilized by thedevice, and the like.

The wristband monitoring device 122 includes a power source, and a meansto charge said power source, indicated by power input(s) 250. In atleast one embodiment, wristband monitoring device 122 may be connectedto faceplate device 124 and the power source of the wristband monitoringdevice 122 may be charged from the battery of faceplate device 124. Thepower source may include a battery, a capacitor, or any other suitablemeans for storing chemical or electrical energy for later use.

FIG. 3 depicts an example faceplate device (e.g., the faceplate device124) of the wrist-worn device(s) 120, in accordance with at least oneembodiment. 124 can implement the techniques discussed herein. It shouldbe noted that FIG. 3 is meant only to provide a generalized illustrationof various components, any or all of which may be utilized asappropriate. In some embodiments, some or all of the components includedin the faceplate device 124 may also or instead be located on thewristband monitoring device 122. Moreover, system elements may beimplemented in a relatively separated or relatively more integratedmanner.

The faceplate device 124 is shown comprising hardware elements that canbe electrically coupled via a bus 302 (or may otherwise be incommunication, as appropriate). The hardware elements may include aprocessing unit(s) 310 which can include without limitation one or moregeneral-purpose processors, one or more special-purpose processors (suchas digital signal processors (DSPs), application specific integratedcircuits (ASICs), and/or the like), and/or other processing structure ormeans, which can be configured to perform one or more of the methodsdescribed herein.

The faceplate device 124 might also include a wireless communicationinterface 304, which can include without limitation a modem, a networkcard, an infrared communication device, a wireless communication device,and/or a chipset (such as a Bluetooth device, an IEEE 802.11 device, anIEEE 802.15.4 device, a WiFi device, a WiMax device, cellularcommunication facilities, etc.), and/or the like. The wirelesscommunication interface 304 may permit data to be exchanged with anetwork, wireless access points, other computer systems, and/or anyother electronic devices described herein (e.g. the wristband monitoringdevice 122). The communication can be carried out via one or morewireless communication antenna(s) 306 that send and/or receive wirelesssignals 308. For example, the wireless signals 308 can be cellularnetwork signals or a Bluetooth connection. In at least one embodiment,wristband monitoring device 122 may communicate with faceplate device124 via the wireless communication interface 304.

Depending on desired functionality, the wireless communication interface304 can include separate transceivers to communicate with basetransceiver stations (e.g., base transceiver stations of a cellularnetwork) and access points. These different data networks can include,an Othogonal Frequency-Division Multiple Access (OFDMA), Code DivisionalMultiple Access (CDMA), Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM),and/or other types of networks.

The faceplate device 124 can further include sensor(s) 310. Such sensorscan include, without limitation, one or more accelerometer(s) and/orgyroscope(s) 312, altimeter(s) 314, microphone(s) 316, pedometer(s) 318,GPS(s) 320, thermometer(s) 322, and the like. At least a subset of thesensor(s) 310 can provide readings used to provide wellness monitoringas described herein.

Embodiments of wristband monitoring device 122 may also include aSatellite Positioning System (SPS) receiver 330 capable of receivingsignals 332 from one or more SPS satellites using an SPS antenna 334.The SPS receiver can receive satellite data that can be transmitted tothe GPS sensor 320. The satellite data can be information sufficient toallow the GPS sensor 320 to determine a geographic location of thewristband monitoring device based on the satellite data. Suchpositioning can be utilized to complement and/or incorporate thetechniques described herein. It can be noted that, as used herein, anSPS may include any combination of one or more global and/or regionalnavigation satellite systems and/or augmentation systems, and SPSsignals may include SPS, SPS-like, and/or other signals associated withsuch one or more SPS.

The faceplate device 124 may further include or be in communication witha memory 340. The memory 340 is an example of a computer-readablestorage media. In at least one example, computer-readable storage mediainclude volatile or non-volatile, removable or non-removable mediaimplemented in any method or technology for storage of information suchas computer-readable instructions, data structures, program modules, orother data. Additional types of computer storage media that may beincluded in the faceplate device 124 may include, but are not limitedto, PRAM, SRAM, DRAM, RAM, ROM, EEPROM, flash memory or other memorytechnology, CD-ROM, DVD or other optical storage, magnetic cassettes,magnetic tape, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices,or any other medium which can be used to store the desired informationand which can be accessed by the faceplate device 124. Combinations ofany of the above should also be included within the scope of the memory340 can further be used to store sensor data for any combination ofsensors 310 in data store 342. Additionally, or alternatively the memory340 may be used to store medical-related data for the user.

Turning to the contents of the memory 340 in more detail, the memory340, in at least one embodiment, includes an operating system 344 andone or more application programs, modules, or services for implementingthe features disclosed herein. In at least one example embodiment, thefaceplate device 124 is configured to receive, store, and/or displaycontent and at least one interface for interacting with the serviceprovider computer(s) 402 and users. Additionally, the memory 340 storesaccess credentials and/or other user information such as, but notlimited to, user IDs, passwords, and/or other user information. In someexamples, the user information includes information for authenticatingan account access request such as, but not limited to, a device ID, acookie, an IP address, a location, or the like. Additionally, the userinformation includes information regarding a therapy associated with theuser.

The memory 340 of the faceplate device 124 also can comprise softwareelements (not shown), device drivers, executable libraries, and/or othercode, such as one or more application programs, which may comprisecomputer programs provided by various embodiments, and/or may bedesigned to implement methods, and/or configure systems, provided byother embodiments, as described herein. Merely by way of example, one ormore processes described with respect to the method(s) discussed above,such as the methods described in relation to FIGS. 6 and 7, might beimplemented as code and/or instructions executable by the faceplatedevice 124 (and/or processing unit(s) 303 within a faceplate device 124)and/or stored on a non-transitory and/or machine-readable storage medium(e.g., a “computer-readable storage medium,” a “machine-readable storagemedium,” etc.).

Faceplate device 124 may include clock 350. Clock 350 is used togenerate a time stamp for each of the data observations generated by thesensors. The time stamps are used by the processing units 303 in theanalysis of sensor data, and facilitate pattern recognition and improvedcapacity for determining the operational environment of the faceplatedevice 124 and wristband monitoring device 122. The clock 350 can alsobe used by the processing units 303 to for alarms and other standardclock functions.

The faceplate device 124 includes a user interface 360. User interface360 may include a touchscreen, a button, a keypad interface, a vibrationgenerator, a sound generator, and/or other similar interface. Theinterface facilitates soliciting information from the wearer andobtaining input data and information provided by the wearer in response.

The faceplate device 124, utilizing user interface 360, solicitsinformation about the user or the user's condition or environment so asto analyze such data in order to provide the wellness monitoringfeatures discussed herein. For example, the faceplate device 124utilizes user inputs via user interface 360 to obtain information aboutthe user's physique, lifestyle, health, activity level as well asinformation related to therapy compliance and other information relevantto ascertaining the user's overall wellness. The faceplate device 124further solicits any inputs that may facilitate improved learning,analysis and sensing performed by the faceplate device 124, thewristband monitoring device 122, and/or other suitable devices orcomputers (e.g., service provider computer(s) 402).

The faceplate device 124 includes an energy source, a means to chargesaid energy source, and a means to charge an energy source located onwristband monitoring device 122, indicated by power input/outputs 370.The energy source may be a battery, a capacitor, or any other suitablemeans for storing chemical or electrical energy for later use. In atleast one embodiment, the wristband monitoring device 122 may beconnected to faceplate device 124 and the battery of the faceplatedevice 124 may charge the battery of wristband monitoring device 122. Insome embodiments, the wristband monitoring device 122 may be connectedto the faceplate device 124 and the battery of the faceplate device 124may be the energy source for the wristband monitoring device 122 or viceversa. The faceplate device 124 may be configured to charge from astandard A/C adaptor, or by use of a charging dock (e.g., a chargingcradle) configured to house the faceplate device 124, or other suitablecharging means.

FIG. 4 depicts an example system or architecture 400 for managinguser-access for a facility, in accordance with at least one embodiment.In this example, the user-access controller 102 is depicted as beinglocated on service provider computer(s) 402. It should be understoodthat the user-access controller 102 may instead be located external tothe service provider computer(s) 402. In architecture 400, a location ofthe user(s) 404 may be determined by the user-access controller 102,utilizing received information from the image capture device(s) 108,and/or the Bluetooth beacon device(s) 118, and/or the wrist-worndevice(s) 120, each accessible by the user-access controller 102, viathe network(s) 106. The user-access controller 102 may be hosted,managed, and/or provided by a computing resources service or serviceprovider, such as by utilizing one or more service provider computer(s)402. The service provider computer(s) 402, in some examples, providecomputing resources such as, but not limited to, client entities, lowlatency data storage, durable data storage, data access, management,virtualization, cloud-based software solutions, electronic contentperformance management, etc.

In some examples, the wrist-worn device(s) 120 and/or the Bluetoothbeaconing device(s) 118 communicate with the service providercomputer(s) 402 via the network(s) 106, or via other wired/wirelessnetwork connections. Additionally, the wrist-worn device(s) 120 and/orthe Bluetooth beaconing device(s) 118 may be part of a distributedsystem managed by, controlled by, or otherwise part of the serviceprovider computer(s) 402.

In at least one embodiment, the user-access controller 102 allows theuser(s) 404 to interact with the service provider computer(s) 402. Theone or more service provider computer(s) 402, perhaps arranged in acluster of servers or as a server farm, host the user-access controller102 and/or cloud-based software services. Other server architectures maybe used to host the user-access controller 102 and/or cloud-basedsoftware services. The user-access controller 102 is capable of handlingrequests from a user(s) 404 and serving, in response, various userinterfaces that are rendered at the wrist-worn device(s) 120 and/oraccess interface(s) 114. The user-access controller 102 provides anytype of device or application control. The user-access controller 102and/or corresponding control are provided by the operating system 344 ofthe faceplate device 124.

In some aspects, the service provider computer(s) 402, the facilitydevice(s) 104, and the image capture device(s) 108, are any type ofcomputing devices such as, but not limited to, a mobile phone, a smartphone, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a laptop computer, a desktopcomputer, a server computer, a thin-client device, a tablet PC, etc.Additionally, it should be noted that in some embodiments, the serviceprovider computer(s) 402, the facility device(s) 104, and the imagecapture device(s) 108 are executed by one or more virtual machinesimplemented in a hosted computing environment. The hosted computingenvironment may include one or more rapidly provisioned and releasedcomputing resources, which computing resources may include computing,networking and/or storage devices. A hosted computing environment isalso referred to as a cloud-computing environment.

In one illustrative configuration, the service provider computer(s) 402,the facility device(s) 104, and the image capture device(s) 108 eachinclude at least one memory (e.g., memory 416-1, memory 416-2, andmemory 416-3, respectively, hereinafter, the memory 416) and one or moreprocessing units (e.g., processor(s) 418-1, processor(s) 418-2, andprocessor(s) 418-3, respectively, hereinafter, processor(s) 418). Theprocessor(s) 418 are implemented as appropriate in hardware,computer-executable instructions, firmware, or combinations thereof.Computer-executable instruction or firmware implementations of theprocessor(s) 418 include computer-executable or machine-executableinstructions written in any suitable programming language to perform thevarious functions described.

In at least one example embodiment, the memory 416 store programinstructions that are loadable and executable on the processor(s) 418,respectively, as well as data generated during the execution of theseprograms. Depending on the configuration and type of service providercomputer(s) 402, the facility device(s) 104, and/or the image capturedevice(s) 108, the memory 416 may be volatile (such as RAM) and/ornon-volatile (such as ROM, flash memory, etc.). The service providercomputer(s) 402, the facility device(s) 104, and/or the image capturedevice(s) 108 also include additional storage (e.g., additional storage420-1, additional storage 420-2, and additional storage 420-3,respectively, hereinafter the additional storage 420) which includesremovable storage and/or non-removable storage. The memory 416 and/orthe additional storage 420, both removable and non-removable, are allexamples of computer-readable storage media. In at least one example,computer-readable storage media include volatile or non-volatile,removable or non-removable media implemented in any method or technologyfor storage of information such as computer-readable instructions, datastructures, program modules, or other data. Additional types of computerstorage media that may be present in the service provider computer(s)402, the facility device(s) 104, and/or the image capture device(s) 108may include, but are not limited to, PRAM, SRAM, DRAM, RAM, ROM, EEPROM,flash memory or other memory technology, CD-ROM, DVD or other opticalstorage, magnetic cassettes, magnetic tape, magnetic disk storage orother magnetic storage devices, or any other medium which can be used tostore the desired information and which can be accessed by the serviceprovider computer(s) 402, the facility device(s) 104, and/or the imagecapture device(s) 108, respectively. Combinations of any of the aboveshould also be included within the scope of computer-readable media.

In accordance with at least one embodiment, the service providercomputer(s) 402, the facility device(s) 104, and/or the image capturedevice(s) 108 contain communications connection(s) (e.g., communicationconnections 422-1, communication connections 422-2, and communicationconnections 422-3, respectively, hereinafter, communication connections422) that allow the service provider computer(s) 402, the facilitydevice(s) 104, and/or the image capture device(s) 108 to communicatewith a stored database, another computing device or server, userterminals and/or other devices on the network(s) 106. The serviceprovider computer(s) 402, the facility device(s) 104, and/or the imagecapture device(s) 108 also include I/O device(s) 424-1, I/O device(s)424-2, and I/O device(s) 424-3, respectively (hereinafter I/O device(s)424), such as a keyboard, a mouse, a pen, a voice input device, a touchinput device, a display, speakers, a printer, etc.

Turning to the contents of the memory (e.g., the memory 416) in moredetail, each memory includes an operating system (e.g., operating system426-1, operating system 426-2, and operating system 426-3, respectively,hereinafter operating system 426), one or more data stores (e.g., datastore(s) 428-1, data store(s) 428-2, and data store(s) 428-3,respectively, hereinafter data store(s) 428), and/or one or moreapplication programs, modules, or services for implementing the featuresdisclosed herein. For example, medical-related data, sensor and/orlocation data collected from wrist-worn device(s) 120, location datareceived by Bluetooth beacon device(s) 118, one or more images collectedfrom image capture device(s) 108 and any suitable data utilized byuser-access controller 102 may be stored in data store(s) 428, or a datastore external to the service provider computer(s) 402, the facilitydevice(s) 104, and/or the image capture device(s) 108.

FIG. 5 depicts an example computer architecture 500 for providing auser-access controller 102, including a plurality of modules 504 thatmay carry out various embodiments. In at least some examples, themodules 504 are software modules, hardware modules, or a combinationthereof. If the modules 504 are software modules, the modules 504 areembodied on a computer-readable medium and processed by a processor inany of the computer systems described herein. It should be appreciatedthat any module or data store described herein, may be, in someembodiments, a service responsible for managing data of the typerequired to make corresponding calculations. The modules 504 may beconfigured in the manner suggested in FIG. 5 or may exist as separatemodules or services external to the user-access controller 102.

In the embodiment shown in the drawings, map data store(s) 506, userprofile data store(s) 508, schedule data store(s) 510, and health recorddata store(s) 512 are shown, although data can be maintained, derived,or otherwise accessed from various data stores, either remotely orlocally, to achieve the functions described herein. The user-accesscontroller 102 includes various modules such as graphical userinterface(s) 514, application programming interface(s) 516, user profilemanager(s) 518, image-processing engine(s) 520, user-access engine(s)522, scheduling engine(s) 524, tracking engine(s) 526, and the userfeedback engine(s) 528. Some functions of the modules 514, 516, 518,520, 522, 524, 526, and 528 are described below. However, for thebenefit of the reader, a brief, non-limiting description of each of themodules is provided in the following paragraphs.

In accordance with at least one embodiment, a method is enabled managingmulti-user access to a facility. For example, the user-access controller102 may be a component of the service provider computer(s) 402 or resideon a computing device accessible to the service provider computer(s) 402via the network(s) 106.

In accordance with at least one embodiment, access authority informationmay be entered (e.g., by an administrator/employee of the facility usingthe facility device(s) 104) via the graphical user interface(s) 514, acomponent of the user-access controller 102. The facility device(s) 104may be any electronic device capable of receiving and transmittingelectronic data (e.g., a laptop, a cellphone, a tablet, etc.). Onceconfiguration information is entered via the graphical user interface(s)514, the application programming interface(s) 516, a component of theuser-access controller 102, may be utilized to receive the accessauthority information. Any information discussed herein that istransmitted or received by the user-access controller 102 may utilizethe application programming interface(s) 512.

In accordance with at least one embodiment, the user profile manager(s)518, a component of the user-access controller 102, is configured toreceive user-profile information. The user profile manager(s) 518 may beresponsible for creating and maintaining a user profile utilized tostore user-profile information, including, but not limited to, accessauthority information of the user. Further, the user profile manager(s)518 may cause such information to be stored in the user profile datastore(s) 508.

In accordance with at least one embodiment, the image processingengine(s) 520, a component of the user-access controller 102, isconfigured to receive one or more images from the image capturedevice(s) 108. For example, an image taken by the image capturedevice(s) 108 may include a group of people. Upon receipt, the imageprocessing engine(s) 520 may determine a number of sub-images of theimage utilizing machine image processing algorithms. The imageprocessing engine(s) 520 may further be configured to communicate withthe user profile manager(s) 518 in order to obtain user-profileinformation (e.g., a name of a user, an address of a user, a cell phonenumber of a user, an image of the user) and/or access authorityinformation (e.g., a controlled area to which the user has access.).Upon determining the number of sub-images, the image processingengine(s) may identify a particular person in the sub-image bycomparing/matching an image of the user to the sub-image. The imageprocessing engine(s) 520 may calculate a confidence score for eachimage/sub-image that indicates, to some degree of confidence, that aparticular person is included in the image/sub-image. Such confidencescore(s) may be indicated by a percentage, a decimal number, an integernumber, or any suitable means of indicating a score. In at least oneexample, the image processing engine(s) may communicate a match to theuser-access engine(s) 522 for further processing. Additionally, oralternatively, the image processing engine(s) 520 may communicate thematch to the tracking engine(s) 526 and/or the user profile manager(s)518 for further processing.

In at least one embodiment, the user-access engine(s) 522, a componentof the user-access controller 102, is configured to receive informationfrom the image processing engine(s) 520. In at least one example, theuser-access engine(s), a component of the user-access controller 102 isresponsible for determining whether or not a user is allowed access to acontrolled location of a facility. The user-access engine(s) 522 may beconfigured to communicate with the user profile manager(s) 518 in orderto ascertain, receive, or otherwise obtain user profile informationand/or access authority information for the user. The user-accessengine(s) 522 may be configured to communicate with the schedulingengine(s) 524 in order to ascertain, receive, or otherwise obtain aschedule for a user and/or a schedule for the controlled location of thefacility. The user-access engine(s) 522 may determine, using informationobtained using the user profile manager(s) 518 and/or the schedulingengine(s) 524, and/or the image processing engine(s) 520 whether or notthe user is allowed access to a particular controlled location. Uponsuch determination, the user-access engine(s) may cause a signal to besent to the controlled location. Such a signal may result in variousactions being performed (e.g., open/close/lock/unlock a door/window,enable elevator calling, triggering an alarm, etc.). Additionally, oralternatively, the user-access engine(s) 522 may communicate informationto the user feedback engine(s) 528 to cause a notification, and/or areminder, and/or an alert, and/or an alarm to be communicated to one ormore of the facility device(s) 104, one or more of the wrist-worndevice(s) 120, or any suitable device (e.g., a speaker located withinthe facility).

In at least one embodiment, the scheduling engine(s) 524, a component ofthe user-access controller 102, is configured to receive, or otherwiseobtain, scheduling information for the user and/or a controlled locationof a facility (e.g., from the schedule data store(s) 510). Thescheduling engine(s) 524 may be responsible for determining a currenttime and comparing a current time to one or more schedule times. Basedon such comparison, the scheduling engine(s) 524 may report, to anysuitable component of the user-access controller 102, that a schedule(e.g., a schedule for the user and/or a schedule for the controlledlocation) permits or restricts the user from accessing the controlledlocation at the current time or for some period of time.

In at least one example, the scheduling engine(s) 524 may cause one ormore reminders to be displayed/sounded on the wrist-worn device(s) 120and/or the facility device(s) 104. For instance, scheduling engine(s)524 may determine that a user (e.g., a resident, a patient, a prisoner,etc.) may have an appointment or scheduled time to access a controlledlocation. Upon such a determination, the scheduling engine(s) 524 maytransmit information to the user feedback engine(s) 528 in order tocause information to be displayed on the wrist-worn device(s) 120,and/or the facility device(s) 104. In a non-limiting example, a nursewearing a wrist-worn device may receive, via the wrist-worn device, areminder that her patient has an appointment in a laboratory.Additionally, or alternatively, the reminder may be received anddisplayed on the facility device(s) 104. Additionally, or alternatively,the reminder may be delivered by an auditory device (e.g., a speaker).

In at least one embodiment, the tracking engine(s) 526, a component ofthe user-access controller 102, may be configured to track, or otherwisemonitor, one or more persons in a facility. For example, the trackingengine(s) 526 may receive information from the image processingengine(s) 520 indicating that one or more people are included in animage at a specific controlled location. Additionally, or alternatively,the tracking engine(s) 526 may be configured to receive locationinformation for a user from the wrist-worn device(s) 120 and/or theBluetooth beaconing device(s) 118 and/or access interface(s) 114 (e.g.,one or more RFID readers). In at least one example, the trackingengine(s) 526 may utilize the information from the image processingengine(s) 520, and/or the wrist-worn device(s) 120, and/or the Bluetoothbeaconing device(s) 118, and/or the access interface(s) 114 to calculatea potential location for a specific person in the facility. In somecases, the tracking engine(s) 526 may communicate information regardinga potential location of the user to the user feedback engine(s) 528 fordisplay on the facility device(s) 104 and/or the wrist-worn device(s)120 and/or for auditory delivery using the facility device(s) 104,and/or the wrist-worn device(s) 120, and/or another suitable auditorydevice. In accordance with at least one embodiment, the trackingengine(s) 526 may cause such tracking data to be stored in, for example,the user profile data store(s) and/or the health record data store(s)512.

In at least one embodiment, the user feedback engine(s) 528, a componentof user-access controller 102, may be configured to interact with mapdata store(s) 506 in order to display a map of a geographical location(e.g., a hospital ward floor plan, assisted living home floor plan, aprison wing, etc.). In at least one example, the user feedback engine(s)528 may cause a floor plan of a hospital ward to be displayed, forexample, on the facility device(s) 104), with, in some cases, at leastone graphical element superimposed over the floor plan indicating alocation of a user. In accordance with at least one embodiment, the userfeedback engine(s) 528 may be configured to cause a notification, areminder, an alert, and/or an alarm to be communicated to one or more ofthe facility device(s) 104, one or more of the wrist-worn device(s) 120,or any suitable device. Such a notification, reminder, alert, and/oralarm may be visual and/or audible in nature. If visual, thenotification, alert, and/or alarm may include a flashing light, and/oran email message, and/or SMS texting, or the like. If audible, thenotification, alert, and/or alarm may include, for example, a spokenword sounded on a speaker system, a tone/series of tones sounded on aspeaker system, or the like.

FIG. 6 depicts a flow chart 600 of an example method for using theuser-access controller 102, in accordance with at least one embodiment.The flow chart 600 begins at block 602, where a two-dimensional image ofa person is obtained from a data store. For example, the two-dimensionalimage of the person may be captured by an image capture device of thefacility (e.g., the image capture device(s) 108 and/or an image capturedevice in communication with the facility device(s) 104). As anon-limiting example, a person (e.g., as a patient, as a prisoner, as avisitor, as an employee, etc.) may undergo a registration process uponentering the facility for a first time, or at any suitable time. Theregistration process may include capturing a digital image of the personto be used as a baseline image for the user for future image processing.Additionally, user profile information including, but not limited to, aname, an address, a contact phone number, emergency contact information,or the like may be collected during the registration process or at anysuitable time. Such user-profile information may be communicated to theuser-access controller 102 (e.g., using the graphical user interface(s)514, and/or the application programming interface(s) 516, and/or theuser profile manager(s) 518). Such user profile information may bestored, for instance, in the user profile data store(s) 508.

At block 604, an image capture device is correlated with a controlledlocation. For example, the user-access controller 102 may determine,from a mapping or similar mechanism, that a particular image capturedevice of the facility is correlated to a particular controller locationof the facility. In at least one example, such information may be storedin the map data store(s) 506, separately or together with electronic mapinformation of the facility (e.g., floor plan data, schematic(s), etc.).

At block 606, an image may be received from an image capture device, theimage being for the controlled location of the facility, the imagerecording one or more people. In at least one example, one or morepeople walking up to a door of the facility at which a image capturedevice is posted may be recorded in an image taken by the image capturedevice posted at, for example, the door. Similarly, an image capturedevice posted to obtain a view of a hallway, room, door, window, orother controlled area, may capture one or more people within thecontrolled location. For example, individual images may capture a nursesitting at his desk, a doctor travelling down a hallway, a prisoner inher cell, or the like. It should be understood that the image capturedevice does not necessarily have to be affixed, nor does the imagecapture device need to be affixed and/or located within a particulardistance of the controlled location.

At block 608, one or more sub-images corresponding to the one or morepeople in the image may be determined. For example, the image processingengine(s) 520 may analyze the images using one or more machine imageprocessing algorithms to determine the one or more sub-image. As usedherein, a “sub-image” is intended to refer to a portion of the imagereceived. In some example, the sub-image may contain a person's face, abadge, an embroidered name on a uniform garment, a retina, or the like.

At block 610, at least one or more of the sub-images are compared to thetwo-dimensional image of the person. In at least one example, thesub-image determined by the image processing engine(s) 520 includes aperson's face.

At block 612, it may be determined, using a machine image processingalgorithm, that the one or more people match the two-dimensional imageof the person. For example, the image processing engine(s) 520 mayutilize one or more machine image processing algorithms to compare thesub-image (e.g., the person's face) to the two-dimensional image of theperson (e.g., a profile image of a user's face obtained at, for example,registration).

At block 614, information may be retrieved for the person. For example,information may be retrieved for the person in response to determiningthat the two-dimensional image of the person matches the sub-image. Suchinformation may include user-profile information and/or access authorityinformation.

At block 616, a control rule for the controlled location may beretrieved. “A control rule,” is intended to refer to logic associatedwith controlled location that allows/restricts users with respect to thecontrolled location. A control rule may be indicated using a scheduleassociated with the controlled location (e.g., using scheduled timesduring which the controlled location is accessible or restricted). Inaccordance with at least one embodiment, one or more control rules maybe retrieved from, for example, the map data store(s) 506 and/0 theschedule data store(s) 510.

At block 618, a determination may be made (e.g., by the user-accessengine(s) 522) as to whether the person is allowed to access thecontrolled location, wherein the determining is a function of theinformation and the control rule. For example, a schedule for thecontrolled location may indicate that users, other than janitorialstaff, are restricted from accessing the controlled location from thehours of 12:00 AM to 6:00 AM daily. Additionally, or alternatively, acontrol rule for the controlled location may indicate that only usersassociated with a certain user role may be permitted access. Generallyspeaking, control rules may be associated and/or stored with floorplan(s), schematic(s), facility schedule(s), or the like. Control rulesmay relate to a facility as a whole, and/or a portion of the facility.For example, a pharmacy may have a controlled location that housesparticular drugs that are exceptionally dangerous and/or prone to theft.Thus, a control rule for the controlled location may specify that usershaving a role of “pharmacists” are allowed to access the controlledlocation while users having a rule of “cashier” are not. Similarly, inan assisted living facility, a control rule for a portion of thefacility may specify that users having a user role of “staff” or“doctor” may be allowed access to the controlled location, while usershaving a user rule of “patient” or “resident” may be restricted fromaccessing the controlled location.

At block 620 a signal may be sent indicating access availability to thecontrolled location for the person based on the determination at block618. The signal may cause a door/window to open/close/lock/unlock,enable elevator calling, cause a notification/reminder/alert/alarm to betriggered, or the like. The signal may be send by the user-accessengine(s) 522, and/or user feedback engine(s) 528, or another suitablecomponent of the user-access controller 102.

FIG. 7 depicts a schematic 700 illustrating an example method formanaging multi-user access for a facility (e.g., facility 701) using theuser-access controller 102, in accordance with at least one embodiment.It should be understood that any described functionality performedutilizing Bluetooth beaconing device(s) 118, wrist-worn device(s) 120,and RFID readers 710 may be omitted in one or more embodiments. Inaccordance with at least one embodiment, a facility floor plan 702 maybe displayed to a user (e.g., using facility device(s) 104). Thefacility floor plan 702 may include on or more rooms, hallways, commonareas, spaces, cells, or the like. For example, in the schematic 700,controlled locations 1-7, as is hallway 704, are intended to depictcontrolled locations. In at least one example, user-access controller102 may retrieve the facility floor plan 702 from an electronic datastorage location (e.g., the map data store(s) 506) and cause thefacility floor plan 702 to be displayed on an electronic device (e.g.,the facility device(s) 104).

In accordance with at least one embodiment, user 706 may optionally bewearing, or otherwise carrying the wrist-worn device(s) 120 and/or acellphone or other electronic device capable of communicating with a theBluetooth beaconing device(s) 118A-118C (collectively, Bluetoothbeaconing device(s) 118). Bluetooth beaconing device(s) 118 may beconfigured as shown in FIG. 7 or may be configured in any suitableconfiguration as would be obvious to one skilled in the art ofconfiguring Bluetooth beaconing device within the facility 701. A singleBluetooth beaconing device may reside in each room, in a subset of therooms, or otherwise spread out in the facility 701. At least oneBluetooth beaconing device may reside outside the facility. In at leastone example, user-access controller 102 may retrieve the facility floorplan 702 from an electronic data storage location (e.g., map datastore(s) 506). Bluetooth beaconing device 118A may be correlated to thecontrolled location 7 or an area occurring within a threshold distanceof the location of Bluetooth beaconing device 118A. Bluetooth beaconingdevice 118B may be correlated to the controlled location 2 or an areaoccurring within a threshold distance of the location of Bluetoothbeaconing device 118B. Bluetooth beaconing device 118C may be correlatedto the controlled location 5 or an area occurring within a thresholddistance of the location of Bluetooth beaconing device 118C.

In accordance with at least one embodiment, the image capture device(s)108A-108C (collectively, the image capture device(s) 108) may beconfigured as shown in FIG. 7 or may be configured in any suitableconfiguration as would be obvious to one skilled in the art ofconfiguring image capture devices within the facility 701. A singleimage capture device, or multiple image capture devices, may reside ineach room, in a subset of the rooms, in a space, in a hallway, orotherwise suitably spread out in the facility 701. At least one imagecapture device may reside outside the facility. Image capture device(s)108 may provide continuous view-ability of the facility or may insteadprovide intermittent view-ability (e.g., not every portion of thefacility is viewable by an image capture device). Each image capturedevice may be correlated with a controlled location of the facility. Forexample, the image capture device(s) 108 may each be associated withhallway 704. Additionally, or alternatively, image capture device 108Amay be correlated with the controlled location 7 and/or controlledlocation 1, and/or the controlled location 2. Image capture device 108Bmay be correlated with controlled location 3 and/or controlled location4, and/or controlled location 6. Image capture device 108C may becorrelated with controlled location 4 and/or controlled location 5.

In accordance with at least one embodiment, each controlled location(e.g., each room depicted in FIG. 7 and the hallway 704) may bemonitored using the image capture device(s) 108, and/or the Bluetoothbeaconing device(s) 118, and/or the wrist-worn device(s) 120 worn by anycombination of users within and/or near the facility 701 (including nousers), or any suitable combination of the above.

In accordance with at least one embodiment, each controlled location inthe facility 701 may be accessible/restricted to the user 706. Forexample, the user 706 (e.g., a patient) in an assisted living facilitymay be allowed access to the controlled location 7 as the controlledlocation 7 is where the user 706 resides. The user 706 may further beallowed access to hallway 704 due to the requirement that the user 706pass through hallway 704 in order to access other controlled locations.In this example, the user 706 may further be allowed access to thecontrolled location 4 (e.g., the facilities cafeteria) as controlledlocation 4 is where the user received his meals. Path 708 may beadditionally be included as a controlled location. The path 708 may beaccessible to the user 706 as a pattern of traversal the user mayexecute when going to get food from the controlled location 4. In atleast some examples, the user 706 may be restricted from deviating fromthe path 708. Deviation may be ascertained using the image capturedevice(s) 108, and/or the Bluetooth beaconing device(s) 118, and/or thewrist-worn device(s) 120, and/or the RFID readers 710, or any suitablecombination of the above (e.g., using only the image capture device(s)108). In a non-limiting example, the user 706 may be a visitor to thefacility. In such an example, the user 706 may check-in to the facilityat the controlled location 7. The user 706 may then be restricted totravelling only the path 708 to visit, for example, his grandmother inthe controlled location 4. In some cases, if the user 706 deviates fromthe path 708 (e.g., as determined utilizing images captured by the imagecapture device(s) 108, for example), a notification/reminder/alert/alarmwill be triggered (e.g., on the facility device(s) 104, on a speakerlocated within the facility 701).

In accordance with at least one embodiment, the user 706 may be carryingan RFID tag (e.g., as part of an employee badge, as part of thewrist-worn device(s) 120, etc.). RFID readers 710 may be located at eachdoor, or subset of doors corresponding to controlled locations 1-7depicted in FIG. 7. The user 706 may utilize an RFID tag at one or moreof the RFID readers 710 of the facility 701. Such information may becommunicated to the user-access controller 102 where the user-accesscontroller 102 may attempt to authenticate the user's information andallow/restrict access accordingly. Additionally, or alternatively, RFIDinformation may be utilized and/or stored to be used in calculationsinvolving tracking and/or otherwise determining a user's location withinthe facility 701.

In accordance with at least one embodiment, over a period of time, theimage capture device(s) 108, and/or the Bluetooth beaconing device(s)118, and/or the RFID readers 710, and/or the wrist-worn device(s) 120,or any suitable combination of the above, may communicate information tothe user-access controller 102. Upon receipt, the user-access controller102 may utilize the received information to track the user 706 throughthe facility 701, obtain location information of the user 706, or thelike.

In a non-limiting example, the user 706 may enter the facility 701 byentering the controlled location 7. The user 706 may be carrying acell-phone. Consider the case where user 706 is at the facility 701 tovisit his grandmother. The user 706 may be met with a staff personassociated with the facility 701 in the controlled location 7. The staffperson may collect the user's profile information (e.g., name, address,phone number, driver's license number or other identification number,associated persons in the facility, etc.). Such user profile informationmay be entered using, for example, the facility device(s) 104. Thefacility device(s) 104 may communicate such information to theuser-access controller 102. The user profile manager(s) 518, or somesuitable component of the user-access controller 102, may cause suchuser profile information to be stored in, for example, the user profiledata store(s) 508. The user may, as part of the same process, beassociated with access authority information. For example, the user 706may be manually allowed to access one or more controlled locations. Theuser 706 may manually be allowed to access the controlled location 7,and/or the hallway 704 and/or the controlled location 4 of FIG. 7. Suchaccess authority information may be manually entered, may be generatedfrom a path defined by the staff person on the facility device(s) 104(e.g., by tracing a path through the facility 701 using an electronicrepresentation of the facility floor plan 702), may be allowed bydefault, may be determined by the user-access controller 102 as afunction of the user's starting location and the location of any personin the facility, may be determined by the user-access controller 102 asa function of the one or more controlled locations to which the user hasaccess, or any suitable combination of the above.

In one non-limiting example, upon entry of the user's profileinformation and/or access authority information, the user 706 may beginto be monitored/tracked as he transitions from one location to the nextwithin the facility 701. For example, while the user 706 is located inthe controlled location 7, the Bluetooth beaconing device 118A maydetermine the location of the user 706 using the cell phone and/or thewrist-worn device(s) 120. As the user 706 travels into the hallway 704along the path 708, the image capture device 108A may capture one ormore images of the user 706 as he travels along the path 708.Additionally, or alternatively, the Bluetooth beaconing device(s) 118may obtain location information of the user 706 as the user 706 travelsalong the path 708. After the user 706 passes image capture device 108Bat location 712, the image capture device 108B may capture one or moreimages of the user 706. Bluetooth beaconing device(s) 118 may obtainfurther location information of the user 706 at the location 712, or atany suitable point along the path 708, or for any suitable user-locationwithin a threshold distance of the Bluetooth beaconing device(s) 118. Asthe user 706 approaches the controlled location 4, the image capturedevice 108C may capture one or more images of the user 706 at thelocation 714 or at any suitable point along the path 708, or at anysuitable location viewable to the image capture device 108C. Any imagecaptured by image capture device(s) 108, and/or any location informationreceived/determined by the Bluetooth beaconing device(s) 118, and/orwrist-worn device(s) 120, and/or RFID readers 710 may be communicated touser-access controller 102.

In one non-limiting example, the user 706 may be travelling toward aparticular heading (e.g., towards the controlled location 4). In suchcases, user-access controller 102, may receive one or more inputs (e.g.,image(s) from image capture device(s) 108, and/or location data from theBluetooth beaconing device(s) 118, and/or RFID data from the RFIDreaders 710, and/or location data from the wrist-worn device(s) 120, orany suitable combination of the above). Upon receipt, a component ofuser-access controller 102 (e.g., the tracking engine(s) 526) maycalculate a potential future user location according to the received oneor more inputs. As a non-limiting example, the tracking engine(s) 526may receive one or more images from image capture device 108A indicatingthat the user 706 is traveling down the hallway 704. Upon receipt, thetracking engine(s) 526 may determine that the user is heading away fromthe image capture device 108A. Additionally, the tracking engine(s) 526may determine a speed at which the user 706 is moving by comparing asize of the user in a first image and a size of the user in a secondimage. Additionally, or alternatively, the tracking engine(s) maycalculate a potential destination including a potential time of arrivalas a function of user-profile information indicating person(s)associated with the user 706 (e.g., the grandmother). Perhaps, in thisexample, the image capture device 108B is malfunctioning and does notcapture an image of the user 706. In this case, the tracking engine(s)526, upon calculating a potential destination by determining where thegrandmother is located (e.g., the controlled location 4) and/or usingthe heading of the user 706 as indicated by the one or more receivedinputs, may further determine a potential arrival time using, forexample, the calculated user speed determined from the one or moreinputs. Alternatively, the user may be allotted by the trackingengine(s) 526 a predefined amount of time to arrive at the destination.In at least some example, if the user 706 does not arrive at thepredetermined/calculated arrival time anotification/reminder/alert/alarm may be triggered by the trackingengine(s) 526 or any suitable component of the user-access controller102.

FIG. 8 depicts a schematic 800 illustrating another example method formanaging multi-user access for a facility (e.g., the facility 701 ofFIG. 7) using the user-access controller (e.g., the user-accesscontroller 102), in accordance with at least one further embodiment.Continuing on with the example facility 701 illustrated in FIG. 7, aschedule for the user 806 (e.g., a patient) and/or a schedule for acontrolled location may be determined by a component of the user-accesscontroller 102 (e.g., scheduling engine(s) 524). For example, considerthat the controlled location 7 is the user's residence, the controlledlocation 4 is a cafeteria, and controlled location 5 is a laundromat. Ata first time period, the user 806 may be allowed/restricted tocontrolled locations 1-7 as depicted in FIG. 7. At another time period(e.g., an hour after the first time period), the user 706 may beallowed/restricted to controlled locations 1-7 as depicted in FIG. 8.For example, a schedule for the user 706 may specify that the user 806should be allowed in his room (e.g., the controlled location 7) at anytime. However, the schedule for the user 806 may further specify thatthe user 806 be allowed access to the controlled location 4 during mealtimes (e.g., between the hours of 8 AM and 9 AM, 12 PM and 2 PM and 5 PMand 7 PM, respectively). Additionally, for this example, the schedulefor the user 806 may specify that the user 806 may have access tocontrolled location 5 (e.g., the laundromat) only from the hours of 7 PMand 8 PM.

In at least one example, the user 806, having been first allowed toaccess the controlled location 4 may be given a period of time (e.g., 2minutes) within which to exit the controlled location 4 after a time atwhich the controlled location 4 becomes restricted to the user 806. Ifthe user 806 does not leave within the period of time, anotification/reminder/alert/alarm may be triggered in a similar manneras described above.

In accordance with at least one embodiment, the activities of the user806 may be tracked and stored by a component of the user-accesscontroller 102 (e.g., the tracking engine(s) 526). In at least oneexample, the user 806 may have been instructed by a physician to walkabout the facility 701. Additionally, or alternatively, the user'stracked information may be useful in determining whether the user 806has been going to meals, participating in activities offered throughoutthe facility 701, and/or utilizing various resource of the facility 701,or the like. The tracked information may, in some cases, be stored inthe health record data store(s) 512, along with, or associated with,medical-related information of the user 806. Additionally, oralternatively, such tracked information may, in some cases, be storedalong with user profile information in user profile data store(s) 508.Such information may be accessible by, for example, a doctor, at asuitable time during which the doctor may ascertain the activitiesand/or behaviors of the user 806.

In accordance with at least one embodiment, one or more controlledlocations associated with the facility 701 (e.g., internal or externalcontrolled locations of the facility 701) may be associated with one ormore corresponding control rules. For example, the controlled location 4(e.g., a cafeteria) may have hours of operation during which any usersmay be allowed access. Additionally, or alternatively, a controlledlocation may be associated with one or more user roles such that onlyusers of the one or more associated user roles may be allowed access tothe controlled location. For example, controlled location 3 of FIG. 8may be a laboratory. User 706 (e.g., a patient) may be associated with auser role that is not allowed access to controlled location 3.Alternatively, user 706 may be associated with a user role (e.g., “labassistant”) that is allowed access to controlled location 3 according toone or more control rules for controlled location 3 (a controlledlocation).

FIG. 9 depicts a schematic 900 illustrating yet another example methodfor managing multi-user access for a facility (e.g., the facility 701 ofFIG. 7) using the user-access controller (e.g., user-access controller102), in accordance with still one further embodiment. Continuing onwith the example facility 701 of FIG. 7, one or more users (e.g., user902, user 904, and/or user 906) may be tracked throughout the facility701 in a similar manner as described above. In at least one example,access authority information for user 904 may indicate that he is not tobe within distance 908 of the user 906. For example, perhaps the user904 and the user 906 are prisoners in a federal prison that have hadprevious physically violent altercations with one another. Suchaltercations may have resulted in an administrator of the facility 701including access authority information of a user (e.g., user 906)indicating that the user 906 is not to come in contact with the user904, and vice versa. In some cases, the user-access controller 102(e.g., the tracking engine(s) 526 and/or the user-access engine(s) 522)may enforce such restrictions. For example, access authority informationmay specify a distance 908 for which the user 904 is to maintain fromthe user 906, at all times, or during at least some specified timeperiod. For example, distance 908 may be a distance measurement (e.g.,20 feet, 3 meters, etc.). Alternatively, access authority informationfor the user 904 may specify that the user 904 may not occupy the sameroom as the user 906, at any time, or during at least some specifiedtime period. In at least one example, if the tracking engine(s) 526determines that the user 904 has violated either access authority rule(e.g., by coming within a distance of the user 906 that is less thandistance 908 and/or by occupying the same room as the user 906 over athreshold amount of time) then a notification/reminder/alert/alarm maybe triggered in a similar manner as described in the above examples.

FIG. 10 depicts another example environment 1000 of an embodiment of amulti-user access system for managing user access for a facility usingthe user-access controller, in accordance with at least one embodiment.In accordance with at least one embodiment, one user's access authorityinformation may be used to override accessibility of another user to acontrolled location. For example, a doctor 1002 and a patient 1004 mayapproach a controlled location (e.g., a door of facility 701). As thedoctor 1002 and the patient 1004 approach the controlled location, animage 1006 may be captured by, for example, the image capture device(s)108. The image capture device(s) 108 may communicate the image 1006 tothe user-access controller 102 via the network(s) 106. In onenon-limiting example, information regarding the location of the doctor1002 and/or the patient 1004 may additionally, or alternatively, becollected by the wrist-worn device(s) 120, and/or the Bluetoothbeaconing device(s) 118, and/or the access interface(s) 114 (e.g., anRFID reader), though such devices are not required for every embodiment.Location information may also be communicated to the user-accesscontroller 102 via network(s) 106.

In accordance with at least one embodiment, the image capture device(s)108, and/or the access interface(s) 114, and/or the wrist-worn device(s)120, and/or the Bluetooth beaconing device(s) 118 associated with thefacility 701 may be utilized to determine that one or more people areapproaching a controlled location (e.g., a controlled locationcorrelated with a particular image capture device). In at least oneexample, a visual and/or audible (e.g., verbal and/or non-verbal)attention-drawing measure (e.g., a blinking light, an audible tone, averbal command) may be utilized to prompt and/or direct the one or morepeople gaze in a particular direction (e.g., in the direction of theparticular image capture device) in order to minimize and/or eliminatethe need for the one or more people to stop outside the controlledlocation (e.g., to wait for image processing to complete before accessis granted).

In accordance with at least one embodiment, upon receipt of an image1006 from the image capture device(s) 108, one or more sub-images of theimage 1006 may be determined. For example, a component of theuser-access controller 102 (e.g., the image processing engine(s) 520)may, determine the sub-image 1008 and the sub-image 1010 utilizing oneor more machine image processing algorithms. For example one suchmachine image processing algorithm that may be utilized to search forand isolate portions of the image 1006 that appear to be a person'sface. In one non-limiting example, a facial recognition algorithm may beused to determine the sub-image 1008 (e.g., an image of the doctor'sface) and the sub-image 1010 (e.g., an image of the patient's face). Thesub-images may be used in a comparison between the sub-images and storedimages of the doctor 1002 and the patient 1004. Through such comparison,the identity of the doctor 1002 and the patient 1004 may be determined.For example the sub-image 1008 may be compared to one or more storedimages until a matching stored image is found. Upon determining that thesub-image 1008 matches a stored image, the user's identify may beascertained by, for example, accessing the user-profile informationassociated with the stored image. Access authority information for theuser (e.g., the access authority information of the doctor 1002) may beascertained by accessing the access authority information associatedwith the stored image (e.g., via a user profile stored in the userprofile data store(s) 508). User profile information and accessauthority information for patient 1004 may be ascertained in a similarmanner utilizing sub-image 1010 and one or more stored images.

In at least one example, images of a user who is not associated with astored image may be analyzed. For example, an image may be analyzed todetermine that a user is not associated with a stored image. In somecases, the user who is not associated with a stored images may beallowed access to some or all of the controlled locations of thefacility by default. In another example, a child may break away from herparent and approach a controlled location. Upon receiving the image ofthe child, machine image processing algorithm(s) may be utilized toestimate an approximate age (e.g., 4 years old in this case). Upondetermining that the child in the image is likely (e.g., within somedegree of likelihood) a person under a threshold age (e.g., 10 yearsold), access may be restricted such that the child may not access thecontrolled location.

In accordance with at least one embodiment, once each of the doctor 1002and the patient 1004 are identified and access authority information foreach user obtained, a component of the user-access controller 102 (e.g.,the user-access engine(s) 522), may determine whether to allow bothusers, one user, or neither user to access the controlled location. Inat least one example, the controlled location has a control rule thatspecifies that users having a user role of “doctor” may access thecontrolled location (e.g., an examination room) at any time.Additionally, the controlled location may have a further control rulethat specifies that users having a user role other than “doctor,”“nurse,” “assistant,” “janitorial staff,” or the like are not allowedaccess to the controlled location. Thus, the patient 1004, were he toapproach the examination room alone, would not be allowed access due tothe specified control rules.

In accordance with at least one embodiment, the doctor 1002 may beassociated with the patient 1004. For example, access authorityinformation of doctor 1002 may include the identification of the patient1004 as being indicative of a person that the doctor 1002 may escort. Insuch an example, the access authority information of the doctor 1002 mayoverride the access authority information of the patient 1004. Thus,though the patient 1004, who would not be allowed to access theexamination room were he to attempt access alone, will not be able toaccess the examination room due to the presence of the doctor 1002.

In accordance with at least one embodiment, the doctor 1002 and thepatient 1004 may, in some cases, have no prior association (e.g., thedoctor 1002 is not associated with the patient 1004). In such cases, acomponent of the user-access controller 102 (e.g., the image processingengine(s) 520) may determine, via the image received from the imagecapture device(s) 108, that the doctor 1002 and the patient 1004 arewithin some distance 1012 apart. Distance measurements may be determinedthrough analyzing a size of one person and a size of another person inthe image. Additionally, or alternatively, points of reference (e.g., adoor, painting, etc.), having known dimensions, may be utilized todetermine a distance of a person in the image from the image capturedevice transmitting the image. For some cases, a distance 1012 of lessthan a threshold distance may be determined to be indicative of an“escort” situation. In other words, if the doctor 1002 and the patient1004 are the distance 1012 apart, and the distance 1012 is less thansome predefined distance threshold, then user-access controller 102 mayallow the doctor 1002 to escort (e.g., override) the access authorityinformation of the patient 1004. It should be understood that, in somecases, multiple user's access authority information may be ascertainedand that, in some cases, if any of the multiple user's access authorityinformation indicates that a user is allowed to access the controlledlocation, then all of the multiple user's within a threshold distancemay be allowed to access the controlled location. In this manner, thedoctor 1002 may escort one or more users into a controlled location

Specific details are given in the above description to provide athorough understanding of the embodiments. However, it is understoodthat the embodiments may be practiced without these specific details.For example, circuits may be shown in block diagrams in order not toobscure the embodiments in unnecessary detail. In other instances,well-known circuits, processes, algorithms, structures, and techniquesmay be shown without unnecessary detail in order to avoid obscuring theembodiments.

Implementation of the techniques, blocks, steps, and means describedabove may be done in various ways. For example, these techniques,blocks, steps and means may be implemented in hardware, software, or acombination thereof. For a hardware implementation, the processing unitsmay be implemented within one or more application specific integratedcircuits (ASICs), digital signal processors (DSPs), digital signalprocessing devices (DSPDs), programmable logic devices (PLDs), fieldprogrammable gate arrays (FPGAs), processors, controllers,micro-controllers, microprocessors, other electronic units designed toperform the functions described above, and/or a combination thereof.

Also, it is noted that the embodiments may be described as a processwhich is depicted as a flowchart, a flow diagram, a swim diagram, a dataflow diagram, a structure diagram, or a block diagram. Although adepiction may describe the operations as a sequential process, many ofthe operations can be performed in parallel or concurrently. Inaddition, the order of the operations may be re-arranged. A process isterminated when its operations are completed, but could have additionalsteps not included in the figure. A process may correspond to a method,a function, a procedure, a subroutine, a subprogram, etc. When a processcorresponds to a function, its termination corresponds to a return ofthe function to the calling function or the main function.

Furthermore, embodiments may be implemented by hardware, software,scripting languages, firmware, middleware, microcode, hardwaredescription languages, and/or any combination thereof. When implementedin software, firmware, middleware, scripting language, and/or microcode,the program code or code segments to perform the necessary tasks may bestored in a machine-readable medium such as a storage medium. A codesegment or machine-executable instruction may represent a procedure, afunction, a subprogram, a program, a routine, a subroutine, a module, asoftware package, a script, a class, or any combination of instructions,data structures, and/or program statements. A code segment may becoupled to another code segment or a hardware circuit by passing and/orreceiving information, data, arguments, parameters, and/or memorycontents. Information, arguments, parameters, data, etc. may be passed,forwarded, or transmitted via any suitable means including memorysharing, message passing, token passing, network transmission, etc.

For a firmware and/or software implementation, the methodologies may beimplemented with modules (e.g., procedures, functions, and so on) thatperform the functions described herein. Any machine-readable mediumtangibly embodied instructions may be used in implementing themethodologies described herein. For example, software codes may bestored in a memory. Memory may be implemented within the processor orexternal to the processor. As used herein the term “memory” refers toany type of long term, short term, volatile, nonvolatile, or otherstorage medium and is not to be limited to any particular type of memoryor number of memories, or type of media upon which memory is stored.

Moreover, as disclosed herein, the term “storage medium” may representone or more memories for storing data, including read-only memory (ROM),random access memory (RAM), magnetic RAM, core memory, magnetic diskstorage mediums, optical storage mediums, flash memory devices and/orother machine-readable mediums for storing information. The term“machine-readable medium” includes, but is not limited to, portable orfixed storage devices, optical storage devices, and/or various otherstorage mediums capable of storing that contain or carry instruction(s)and/or data.

While the principles of the disclosure have been described above inconnection with specific apparatuses and methods, it is to be clearlyunderstood that this description is made only by way of example and notas limitation on the scope of the disclosure.

1.-20. (canceled)
 21. A multi-user access system for a facility having aplurality of controlled locations with a corresponding plurality ofimage capture devices, the multi-user access system comprising: a datastore, comprising: a first image of a person; one or more image capturedevices, wherein: a first image capture device transmits a second image,wherein the second image records a first representation of one or morepeople; and wherein a second image capture device transmits a thirdimage, wherein the third image records a second representation of atleast one person; a tracking engine that: determines a first pluralityof sub-images corresponding to the one or more people in the secondimage; compares a first subset of the first plurality of the sub-imagesto the first image of the person; determines, using a machine imageprocessing algorithm, that a sub-image of the first subset matches thefirst image of the person; determines a second plurality of sub-imagescorresponding to the one or more people in the third image; compares asecond subset of the second plurality of the sub-images to the firstimage of the person; and determines, using a machine image processingalgorithm, that a sub-image of the second subset matches the first imageof the person; and determines a future location of the person based onthe determinations that the sub-image of the first subset matches thefirst image and that the sub-image of the second subset matches thefirst image.
 22. The multi-user access system for a facility having aplurality of controlled locations with a corresponding plurality ofimage capture devices of claim 21, wherein the tracking engine further:receives location information for the person from at least one of awrist-worn device, a Bluetooth beaconing device, or a Radio FrequencyIdentification Device, wherein determining the future location of theperson is further based on the location information.
 23. The multi-useraccess system for a facility having a plurality of controlled locationswith a corresponding plurality of image capture devices of claim 21,wherein the tracking engine further: determines, from a first image ofthe first plurality of sub-images and a second image of the secondplurality of sub-images, a heading for the user, wherein determining thefuture location of the person is further based on the heading.
 24. Themulti-user access system for a facility having a plurality of controlledlocations with a corresponding plurality of image capture devices ofclaim 23, wherein the tracking engine further: determines, from a firstimage of the first plurality of sub-images and a second image of thesecond plurality of sub-images, a speed for the user, whereindetermining the future location of the person is further based on thespeed.
 25. The multi-user access system for a facility having aplurality of controlled locations with a corresponding plurality ofimage capture devices of claim 24, wherein the tracking engine further:determines an estimated arrival time at a future location based on theheading and the speed.
 26. The multi-user access system for a facilityhaving a plurality of controlled locations with a correspondingplurality of image capture devices of claim 23, wherein the trackingengine further: determines that the person has not arrived at the futurelocation by the estimated arrival time; and generates a notificationindicating that the person has not arrived.
 27. The multi-user accesssystem for a facility having a plurality of controlled locations with acorresponding plurality of image capture devices of claim 23, whereinthe tracking engine further: determines that the person appears in twolocations at a same time based on the determinations that the sub-imageof the first subset matches the first image and that the sub-image ofthe second subset matches the first image. generates a notificationindicating that the person appears in the two locations at the sametime.
 28. A method for managing user access of a facility having aplurality of controlled locations with a corresponding plurality ofimage capture devices, the method comprising: obtaining atwo-dimensional image of a person from a data store; receiving, from afirst image capture device, a first image for the first location of thefacility, the image recording one or more people; determining a firstset of sub-images corresponding to the one or more people in the firstimage; comparing at least one of the first set of sub-images to thetwo-dimensional image of the person; determining, using a machine imageprocessing algorithm, that the person appears in the first image for thefirst location; receiving, from a second image capture device, a secondimage for a second location of the facility, the second image recordingone or more people; determining a second set of sub-images correspondingone or more people in the second image; comparing at least one of thesecond set of sub-images to the two-dimensional image of the person;determining, using a machine image processing algorithm, that the personappears in the second image for the second location; and determining afuture location of the person based on the determination that the personappears in the first image and the second image.
 29. The method formanaging user access of the facility of claim 28, the method furthercomprising: receiving location information for the person from at leastone of a wrist-worn device, a Bluetooth beaconing device, or a RadioFrequency Identification Device, wherein determining the future locationof the person is further based on the location information.
 30. Themethod for managing user access of the facility of claim 28, the methodfurther comprising: determining, from the first image and the secondimage, a heading for the user, wherein determining the future locationof the person is further based on the heading.
 31. The method formanaging user access of the facility of claim 30, the method furthercomprising: determining, from the first image and the second image, aspeed for the user, wherein determining the future location of theperson is further based on the speed.
 32. The method for managing useraccess of the facility of claim 31, the method further comprising:determining that the person appears in two locations at a same timebased on the determinations that a first sub-image of the first setmatches the first image and that the second sub-image of the second setmatches the first image; and generating a notification indicating thatthe person appears in the two locations at the same time.
 33. The methodfor managing user access of the facility of claim 28, the method furthercomprising: determining an estimated arrival time at a future locationbased on the heading and the speed.
 34. The method for managing useraccess of the facility of claim 33, the method further comprising:determining that the person has not arrived at the future location bythe estimated arrival time; and generating a notification indicatingthat the person has not arrived.
 35. A method for managing multi-useraccess of a facility having a plurality of controlled locations with acorresponding plurality of image capture devices, the method comprising:obtaining a two-dimensional image of a person from a data store;receiving, from a first image capture device, a first image for thefirst location of the facility, the image recording one or more people;determining a first set of sub-images corresponding to the one or morepeople in the first image; comparing at least one of the first set ofsub-images to the two-dimensional image of the person; determining,using a machine image processing algorithm and the at least one of thefirst set of sub-images, that the person appears in the first image forthe first location; receiving, from a second image capture device, asecond image for a second location of the facility, the second imagerecording one or more people; determining a second set of sub-imagescorresponding one or more people in the second image; comparing at leastone of the second set of sub-images to the two-dimensional image of theperson; determining, using a machine image processing algorithm and theat least one of the second set of sub-images, that the person appears inthe second image for the second location; determining that the personappears to be at the first location and the second location at a sametime based on the determinations that a first sub-image of the first setmatches the first image and that the second sub-image of the second setmatches the first image; and generating a notification indicating thatthe person appears in two locations at the same time.
 36. The method formanaging user access of the facility of claim 35, the method furthercomprising: receiving location information for the person from at leastone of a wrist-worn device, a Bluetooth beaconing device, or a RadioFrequency Identification Device, wherein determining the future locationof the person is further based on the location information.
 37. Themethod for managing user access of the facility of claim 35, the methodfurther comprising: restricting access to the first location based ondetermining that the person appears to be at the first location and thesecond location at the same time.
 38. The method for managing useraccess of the facility of claim 35, the method further comprising:determining a future location for the person by: determining, from thefirst image and the second image, a heading for the user, whereindetermining the future location of the person is further based on theheading; and determining, from the first image and the second image, aspeed for the user, wherein determining the future location of theperson is further based on the speed.
 39. The method for managing useraccess of the facility of claim 38, the method further comprising:determining an estimated arrival time at a future location based on theheading and the speed.
 40. The method for managing user access of thefacility of claim 39, the method further comprising: determining thatthe person has not arrived at the future location by the estimatedarrival time; and generating a notification indicating that the personhas not arrived.